May 2012

Dear e-Fisherfolk,
When we lived in Houston, it was pretty common to see the Goodyear blimp. The blimp was parked near Spring, TX just off of I-45. It was still magical to watch that old technology in action. Friends from out of town would visit and they’d go nuts seeing something that was pretty common for us. Last week, when we played in Maryland, we flew into Dulles Airport. There on the runway was the space shuttle on top of an airplane! If you fly in and out of Dulles all the time, it might be commonplace for you to see this.

It was awe inspiring to look out our window and see one of the most amazing pieces of space equipment casually hanging out at the airport.
A New Song Lands In Our Laps
By now, it’s old news that our van and our gear was stolen back in January. We’ve gotten pretty much back to normal. Our new teddy bear, Charles (Chuck for short) Beary has been doing a stellar job singing “Teddy Bear’s Picnic”. We’ve gotten some of our instruments back, most notably the electric banjo! Oddly, there were quite a few good things that came from this experience. The offers for and actual help we got from all over the country eased us through the difficulties of dealing with our loss. The most recent good thing that came from our experience is a new song. “Don’t Touch My Stuff!” Some songs just write themselves. This tune just landed in our laps. It features a cathartic vocal performance from Keith and Ezra grooving on his beloved electric banjo! It turns out that more than a few of us can identify with the feeling. The tune has inspired both children’s and adult audiences.
Consensus In Our Audiences
There are lots of good things about doing what we do. One of the best moments is when we see consensus with adult and children’s audiences about the music we play. It can be surprising to someone who is used to seeing adult and children’s concerts done separately. For us, it’s as common as watching the blimp take off next to I-45, but every bit as magical.